Overview: In this short solo episode on the Humanitou podcast, Adam Williams shares a couple poetic examples of his awareness practices while on a trail hike. (Released on podcast on Jan. 21, 2023)


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EP 125 SHOW NOTES, LINKS & TRANSCRIPT

Connect with Adam Williams
Humanitou on Instagram: @humanitou
About Adam

Art Credits
Podcast cover art and photograph: Adam Williams

Music

“Old Rope” by Joe Johnson | joejohnsonsings.com


Original Written Version

At a midpoint along a winter’s hike, the first in some time, I sat on a boulder for several minutes. From above the town where I live, I looked across the Arkansas Valley to the Collegiate Peaks, and I breathed in the crisp January air.

These poetic notings of the moment are what came:

Winds blow through the whiskers
of pines, birds call their calls in voices
varied. White peaks afar hold watch
as shadows drape atop boulders granite, 
the razored textures unfazed, and likewise, 
a stage for the dancers softened in blackness 
by distance, thrust into being by starlight 
and breezes and outstretched limbs, 
timeless the interplay 
yet patiently being.

///

And then these, once moving back to the trail to start my return descent down Midland Hill:

Three deer pause 
aware and ready,

My prints press into the snow, 
ephemeral traces crystallized until– 

Three deer bound up the slope, 
beyond boulders, gone,

Such is all,
are we ready?

These kinds of poems, raw and unfinished, and of the moment, are about a way of seeing and experiencing simple things like a trail hike. It’s about presence and noticing the thoughts that come, that inner voice of connection and creative expression.

The key is to be open to the thoughts. And to have a notebook and pen in your pocket, or backpack. And then to pay attention to what poems or ideas, life questions or even answers might come.


[Podcast outro comments added … ]

I’m Adam Williams. Thanks for listening to the Humanitou podcast. And thanks for however you might be sharing it with others, through word of mouth, social media, and by rating and commenting on it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you’re listening.

Remember, we’re all Humanitou. All we’ve got to do is stay true, stay human. Stay Humanitou.

Humanitou